Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I
ran into a couple at the Taster’s Corner at Trader Joe’s the other day and the
husband came over to me as I was sampling the corned beef Cha Cha was passing
out. He said “I think we know you.” They looked familiar to me, but you all know
how difficult it is place someone out of context. When asked, he replied they live in Middletown
Township.

That
was enough for me, he belongs to the Middletown Township Business and
Professional Association and when I gave him my name he gave me a big smile and
said “You’re the one who does all that writing1”

I
had to tell him that I haven’t written for the papers since the late 90’s and
he seemed surprised. That encounter got me to thinking I haven’t been doing
much writing lately and I think I miss it.
It was the late night meetings, the deadlines and the below minimum wages that got to me all
those years ago, but things have changed.

Now
I can blog. No deadlines, and no money,
but I can write when I want and about what ever is my “itch” of the
day. Seems like a no brainier.

Just
to ease back into the harness I think I’ll take a clue from “The Chew” and my old recipe columns
and talk about snacks. They had the Globe
Trotters as guests and served up deep fat fried cheese/sauerkraut balls and other hi-cal tidbits that I know will never make an appearance at my
house, March Madness or not.

The
first one I would serve is from my mother and goes back to the Great Depression when little
Red Bliss potatoes were a penny a pound. This first appeared in one of my food
columns “back in the day” and it seems that every restaurant around has served
a variation on the theme in the past 20 years.
I would love to hear if you local bistros are serving them and when they
first appeared on the menu.

The
concept is simple. You want the potato
pieces to be about one inch across so you can take the more expense “small” red
potatoes or cut the larger ones into “bite” size pieces that still have skin on
them. I pick my potatoes carefully with
that measurement in mind. I am sure are
those who think I am being very picky and I am.
You can do the same.

Once
home the taters get a scrub – I use a plastic pot scrubber to rub just hard
enough to take off any muddy spots and eye sprouts - and pat them dry. Next put them in a bowl and drizzle a little
oil and mix them around to coat.

Not
too bad so far. Now comes the fun part –
sprinkle on some of your favorite herbs, dried or fresh, more or less, spicy or
not – to taste. Put on a baking sheet
and pop them in a hot oven. They are
done when they are toast brown on the cut side – if uncut they should look like
they have been in the hot tub too long. At 400 degrees about 15-20
minutes. Put them in a bowl or on a
platter and provide toothpicks. These are good piping hot – careful – or at
room temperature.

My
mother-in-law passed this one on to me and I use it all the time. It is the cheapest finger food going, low
cal, low salt and always a hit.

Start
with a baton of French bread, wheat if you can find it, sour dough wheat even
better. Now take the baton to the veggie
section and find a regular yellow onion that looks like one slice of half the onion would just
about cover a slice of the bread when cut straight across. If you are not sure better get two onions,
especially if you don’t have a little mandolin to slice them on. If you have a jar of mayo at home you have
everything you need.

These
little treasures can be prepared several hours ahead of time and it helps if
you have an extra cookie sheet to dedicate to the chore. One baton and one
onion should make two sheets full

Slice
the read straight across and as thin as you can and still get a full
slice. Spread each oval with a very Very
thin coating of mayo (or a substitute of your choice – as long as it is just a
little). Now you will find out why the
onion size was so critical.

Peel
the onion and cut in half top to bottom – put the cut side down and slice as thin
as possible. The end slice will match
the tapered ends of the bread, the middle slices just about cover the whole of
the middle pieces. Don’t worry you can
“piece” the onion together – what you wan is a single layer of onion on each
bread round.

Just
before putting them under the broiler sprinkle lightly with a pinch or two of
salt. They only take about 3 – 4 minutes
under the heat so stand by. They are
finished when the edge of the bread is toasted and the onions are turning
traslucent. Use a spatula to slip them
onto a serving tray and serve immediately.
This is the time to put the second tray under the broiler.

These
are probably good at room temperature too but I have rarely gotten them out of
the kitchen. The smell of the onions and
the toasty bread draws the knowledgeable to the source like magic.

I hope you will try one or both of
these and let me know how your family and friends liked them. If you have something simple, cheap and
lo-cal that is a hit with your crowd send it along – we will share the original
ones on FB.